We propose that Multiracials have flexible racial in-groups in that Multiracials can potentially consider members from three target racial groups as in-group members: same-race Multiracials, racial component Monoracials, and different-race Multiracials. Across three studies, we find that Black/Whites and Asian/Whites consider racial component Minorities (i.e., Blacks or Asians) and different-race Multiracials who share their Minority identity (i.e., Black/Asians) as in-group members in addition to, but to a lesser extent than, same-race Multiracials (i.e., Black/Whites or Asian/Whites). Moreover, participants who reported frequently encountering discrimination related to their Black or Asian backgrounds were more likely to consider individuals who share their Minority background as in-group members. Implications for Multiracials’ psychological well-being and the broader intergroup literature are discussed.
AllportG. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
2.
BranscombeN. R.SchmittM. T.HarveyR. D. (1999). Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 135–149. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.135
3.
CampbellD. T. (1958). Common fate, similarity, and other indices of the status of aggregates of persons as social entities. Behavioral Science, 3, 14–25. doi:10.1002/bs.3830030103
4.
ChenJ. M.HamiltonD. L. (2012). Natural ambiguities: Racial categorization of multiracial individuals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 152–164. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.10.005
5.
ChenJ. M.KteilyN. S.HoA. K. (2018). Whose side are you on? Asian Americans’ mistrust of Asian–White biracials predicts more exclusion from the ingroup. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1–15. doi:10.1177/0146167218798032
6.
ChenJ. M.PaukerK.GaitherS. E.HamiltonD. L.ShermanJ. W. (2018). Black+ White = Not White: A minority bias in categorizations of Black-White multiracials. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 78, 43–54. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2018.05.002
7.
CheryanS.MoninB. (2005). Where are you really from? Asian Americans and identity denial. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 717–730. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.717
8.
CohenJ. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155
9.
DawsonM. C. (1994). Behind the mule. Race and class in African American politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
10.
DevineP. G.SedikidesC.FuhrmanR. W. (1989). Goals in social information processing: The case of anticipated interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 680 - 690. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.5.680
11.
FaulF.ErdfelderE.LangA. G.BuchnerA. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191. doi:10.3758/BF03193146
12.
GaertnerS. L.DovidioJ. F.AnastasioP. A.BachmanB. A.RustM. C. (1993). The common ingroup identity model: Recategorization and the reduction of intergroup bias. In StroebeW.HewstoneM. (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 1–26). London, England: Wiley.
13.
GaitherS. E. (2018). The multiplicity of belonging: Pushing identity research beyond binary thinking. Self and Identity, 17, 443–454. doi:10.1080/15298868.2017.1412343
14.
GaitherS. E.SommersS. R.AmbadyN. (2013). When the half affects the whole: Priming identity for biracial individuals in social interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 368–371. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.12.012
15.
HamiltonD. L.ShermanS. J. (1996). Perceiving persons and groups. Psychological Review, 103, 336. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.103.2.336
16.
HarrisD. R.SimJ. J. (2002). Who is multiracial? Assessing the complexity of lived race. American Sociological Review, 67, 614–627.
17.
HoA. K.KteilyN. S.ChenJ. M. (2017). “You’re one of us”: Black Americans’ use of hypodescent and its association with egalitarianism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 753–768. doi:10.1037/pspi0000107
18.
HoA. K.SidaniusJ.LevinD. T.BanajiM. R. (2011). Evidence for hypodescent and racial hierarchy in the categorization and perception of biracial individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 492–506. doi:10.1037/a0021562
19.
JettenJ.BranscombeN. R.SchmittM. T.SpearsR. (2001). Rebels with a cause: Group identification as a response to perceived discrimination from the mainstream. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1204–1213. doi:10.1177%2F0146167201279012
20.
MacLinO. H.MalpassR. S. (2001). Racial categorization of faces: The ambiguous race face effect. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 7, 98–118. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.7.1.98
21.
MeissnerC. A.BrighamJ. C. (2001). Thirty years of investigating the own-race bias in memory for faces: A meta-analytic review. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 7, 3–35. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.7.1.3
22.
RammstedtB.JohnO. P. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the big five inventory in English and German. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 203–212. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.02.001
23.
RemediosJ. D.ChasteenA. L. (2013). Finally, someone who “gets” me! Multiracial people value others’ accuracy about their race. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 19, 453–460. doi:10.1037/a0032249
24.
SheltonJ. N.RichesonJ. A. (2015). Interacting across racial lines. APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 2: Group Processes, 2, 395–422.
25.
ShihM.SanchezD. T. (2005). Perspectives and research on the positive and negative implications of having multiple racial identities. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 569–591. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.4.569
26.
SnyderC. R. (2016). Navigating in murky waters: How multiracial black individuals cope with racism. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 86, 265–276. doi:10.1037/ort0000148
27.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In WorchelS.AustinW. (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.
28.
TownsendS. S.MarkusH. R.BergsiekerH. B. (2009). My choice, your categories: The denial of multiracial identities. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 185–204. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01594.x
WilliamsD. R.YuY.JacksonJ. S.AndersonN. B. (1997). Racial differences in physical and mental health: Socio-economic status, stress and discrimination. Journal of Health Psychology, 2, 335–351. doi:10.1177%2F135910539700200305
32.
WimmerA.LewisK. (2010). Beyond and below racial homophily: ERG models of a friendship network documented on Facebook. American Journal of Sociology, 116, 583–642. doi:10.1086/653658
33.
YooH. C.JacksonK. F.GuevarraR. P.JrMillerM. J.HarringtonB. (2016). Construction and initial validation of the multiracial experiences measure (MEM). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63, 198. doi:10.1037/cou0000117
34.
ZouL. X.CheryanS. (2017). Two axes of subordination: A new model of racial position. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 696–717. doi:10.1037/pspa0000080
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
